


Opening Night

by LobbyLane



Category: The Producers (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24593728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LobbyLane/pseuds/LobbyLane
Summary: Pre-SlashSo, Leo has agreed to help Max producing that giant flop. But he wasn't aware of what was necessary to do so. And he discovers something he hadn't expected at all...The Producers (c) Mel Brooks
Relationships: Max Bialystock/Leopold "Leo" Bloom, Roger De Bris/Carmen Ghia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Opening Night

„You will get to know people this way.“ 

“I know,” Leo nodded, although still fixating the floor. “I’m just not entirely sure I want this.” 

Max stepped away a few inches and looked at him unquestioningly; one eyebrow raised. That little, very very strange guy. These complexes could get problematic very soon, but well… he needed him. He was the one with the plan; the one that knew how to do this. And he couldn’t back off now.

“You wanna be a producer?” he asked once more. “Then keep going through this. Show some spine. Nobody is gonna eat you, believe me.” 

Leo looked rather troubled though. He kept playing with his fingers on his jacket and didn’t really dare to look up. With his shoulders slightly lifted and that uncomfortable blush on his cheeks, he gave more the impression of a beaten dog than a partner in business. Jeez, that guy was really a pain in the ass. How on earth was Max going to survive this? He would have to get rid of him the first thing when all this was over. This was a promise. A vow he sort of made with himself that very moment. No one should stick to someone that exhausting longer than necessary. 

He took the accountant by his sleeves and practically dragged him along until they’ve finally made it into the huge room. It was filled with people already. And it was loud. The old wooden molding around the walls of the room were decorated with banners and fairy lights, while people were standing everywhere chatting, holding drinks and even dance in the middle of that turmoil. 

Max smiled slightly. It's been this he had been missing. The parties. The people. The gossip. The whole atmosphere of an opening night. It’s been a while. 

He set one foot ahead, ready to dive into this world again, when he noticed rather quickly this would turn out to be different this time. Much different. 

Leo didn’t move a bit and just from the sight of it, his whole body stiffened. And with one fearful gaze at the hands of the accountant, Max knew he was weighing the possibilities of either run and take cover or grab his damn baby blanket and risk to embarrass him in front of important people. 

“Come on,” he said, feeling the young man stiffen even more as he pressed him gently towards that crowd.  
Leo almost looked as though he wanted to cry any moment. Damn it. Max never knew what to do in such situations. It was as uncomfortable as seeing a girl cry. What did people expect in these moments? He never knew. Only this wasn’t a girl. This was a grown up man. 

“These are investors most of the time,” he whispered into Leo’s ear while still smiling at the crowd. And he could tell the young man listened carefully immediately for he bent his head slightly to his side while still eyeing all these strange people in sometimes very extravagant costumes very closely. And weirdly enough, he somehow felt a small hint of sympathy towards that young man all of a sudden. It almost seemed like he was the one who could calm him in a moment of mere anxiety. How very strange. 

“I thought it's for the company?!” he heard his weak voice whisper back at him. 

“Don’t let the name fool you,” Max smiled warmly. “It might be an opening night but it's all kinds of theatre people making contacts here.” 

“So you wanna go for the rich ones?” Leo asked again.

“Are you kidding?” 

Max stopped and turned Leo around, putting both his hands on his shoulders and for a moment there almost pierced him with his looks. 

“We, my innocent little friend, are going for the worst people in showbiz here,” he answered. “So we need to just socialize a bit and find out who's our worst choice!” 

“You make this sound so easy,” Leo avoided his eyes and looked nervously around again. 

“There's nothing to it,” Max said, leaning Leo against him, while wrapping one arm around him. “All ya gotta do is chat a little and find out who ticks the weirdest!” 

“Yeah, I bet you can do this easily,” Leo thought. But it didn’t help much. Max kept dragging him along and soon enough more and more people surrounded them. It became crowded and soon enough Leo wasn’t able to hear the small voices in his own head which kept telling him to run. 

Even worse that that, all of them kept touching him; wanting to shake his hand and even got way too close to him while talking. It almost made him nauseous. He always had had troubles with closeness and this was not exactly helping. One thing was certain though… Max wasn’t the person to listen. He actually believed that little anxiety attack back in the office that first day had shown enough, but clearly the older guy had banished that memory somewhere he couldn’t reach it in no time. 

Max didn’t seem to pay much attention about him either. He was deeply in conversation with someone as Leo noticed from the corner of his eyes, while desperately trying to bend away from yet another guy coming dangerously close to practically scream the information he wanted him to get into his face. This wasn’t at all what he thought a producers life would be like. He felt like choking. This was too much. And he usually would lose orientation crowds easily for his weird brain fixated so much on the more than possible physical contact he tried so hard to avoid, than memorizing where in the room he exactly was. 

It was cursed and felt more like a bad dream. 

“Listen, I need to talk to someone,” he heard a familiar voice and turned around suddenly.

Max stood next to him but didn’t even look his way. He was fixated in someone somewhere in that crowd, merely touching his shoulder. 

“But…Maaaax,” Leo was able to mourn, longing desperately to grab him by his arm and hold on to it, but he couldn’t move.

“Oh come on,” he felt Max clapping his back once, before moving on. “You’re doing great!” 

And thus he vanished into the crowd.

Leo felt like choking. As much as he despised this here, at least he knew Max had been there beside him. And he knew how insecure that sounded but it was giving him at least some kind of hold. But now….

He wanted to grab a chair or the wall or whatever… he felt the room spinning around him. This wasn’t good. He knew that feeling. This was gonna be a major anxiety attack. And there was no one to help him through this. He was alone. Even though he tried to fight against this, his body just wouldn’t listen when he got like that.  
So Leo stumbled forward, trying his very best to ignore the murmurs if the people around him he jostled or the fact he might appeared rude by getting out of a conversation someone else was apparently having with him.  
All he could think of was getting somewhere he could get a steady grip on again and calm himself by taking a breath. But this somehow appeared to be more difficult than he thought. He couldn’t even see anything like a bar or something he could possibly head to. 

Leo felt himself turning in circles and he knew for sure he was starting to hyperventilate. This was a nightmare. He closed his eyes to hold himself back from screaming but lost the last bit of orientation he had altogether. He wanted to get out. Or lie on the ground to feel the gravitation underneath him again. Something …anything. 

“Hey pal, you good?” 

Leo felt someone touching his shoulders again. He wanted to yell at him to just leave him be, but he couldn’t even force himself to open his eyes again. Whoever this was, he needed to endure it. Maybe he would go. 

But then, he felt a sudden tug on his body and immediately felt nauseous again. That someone must have heaved him to his feet again, yet he must have known pretty well he wasn’t really capable to stand right now, for he didn’t let go of him. His hands were softly holding him. Providing the support he so desperately needed right now. 

And they were moving. Leo couldn’t even tell where but whoever this was lead the way, securely and without any hesitation. 

Leo didn’t dare to open his eyes. He felt people striping him as they moved last them, probably through the crowd and each time he felt his body start to shiver as he tried to catch his breath. Instinctively he grabbed the other guys arms and held on to them.

“Don't worry,” he heard him say in a soft voice. “We're out of here in a minute. Nothing's gonna happen. I promise!”

Leo nodded shortly and just followed that stranger. Weirdly enough, this didn’t feel as strange but maybe because he had nothing else but this guy leading the way. 

It didn’t take long for him to notice the fresh breeze of cool nightly air blowing in his face and the noise around him got a little duller. He inhaled deeply and let his head sink. This felt so good right now. 

They walked a little bit still, but soon the both of them came to a halt. 

Leo didn’t move. He simply concentrated on sucking in the cold air and counting the seconds he held his breath before letting it out again. He'd heard somewhere this would slow down the heartbeat a bit and thus circulate the blood in a more normal way, which would calm the body down. 

After another couple of minutes, which felt like hours though, he finally was able to breath a little more steadily and he felt his stiffened neck relax more and more. 

“You’re feeling better?” he heard the voice of the guy next to him again and for once dared to open his eyes.

Slowly he turned his head a little, noticing in shock he was still clinging to him with his fingers still drilled into the arm of him. In shock his eyes widened. He almost jumped back a little, letting go of that stranger in an instance but unfortunately his feet wouldn’t hold his weight fully yet and he started to stumble slightly. 

“Easy there,” the guy said, jumping after him and he caught him right before he could sink to the ground again. “You should wait a bit before trying stunts like that again.” 

Leo, who found himself in the arms of that man again now slowly dared to look up into his face.

A slender, relatively young guy stood there in front of him. He had light brown hair, which curled in rather crazy ways and dark, almost black eyes. A fact that got accentuated even more by a dark eyeliner he seemed to use. He was dressed in what seemed to be a rather elegant evening suit, but looked way too young to be part of that old man society these kind of festivities tended to be. And he smiled warmly at him.

“I’m sorry,” Leo croaked hoarsely, while trying to stand on his own. “I really am… I didn’t mean to…”

“You don’t need to apologize,” the man said. “Anxiety isn’t something someone should take lightly.” 

Leo’s head whirled around. He knew? He'd never met anyone noticing this in such a short period of time. 

“What?” he almost whispered. 

“I can’t believe they would stare without doing anything,” he answered though, nodding in the direction of that room again.

Leo’s head turned. They were standing at the edge of a huge terrace outside of that old building and in the distance he could still see the huge window-doors, illuminated with he light of the celebration going on inside. 

“You…you noticed?” Leo asked then, looking down and blushing slightly. 

The guy gave him a look of pure surprise before starting to break into a wide smile again.

“Don’t worry,” he answered. “I won’t judge.”

“You won't?” Why the hell did he repeat everything this guy said? 

He shook his head though.

“I’ve had to deal with this kinda shit too… I mean in former times. And I know this isn’t fun,” he answered softly, pushing Leo gently onto a huge stone balustrade to sit down. He was being exceptionally careful though. And he sat down right next to him, looking straight ahead though. Whether he wanted to avoid staring at him or he just wanted to stay close in case something else would happen Leo wasn’t able to tell. But somehow he couldn’t turn his eyes away. 

It didn’t take him long to notice though and he smiled at him with a mixture of uncertainty and amusement. 

“What?” he laughed silently. 

Leo shook his head quickly.

“Nothing,” he looked down at his feet quickly. “I …just… never thought someone…you know…” 

“Someone would notice?” 

Leo looked at him again. Wow, this was unbelievable. This guy seemed to know his different stages perfectly. 

“Well, as far as I know, the best way to deal with it is open spaces and fresh air,” the guy answered, still looking cheerful. “And once you’ve caught your breath again and your whole system has normalized itself, you’ll be able to get a better overview of all of this.”

“I hate crowds,” Leo fired away, not really grasping why the hell ye would tell him. But somehow he felt like someone understood his behavior immediately. “I just felt sick all of a sudden. My pa…I mean…the one I’m here with… He suddenly left me alone there and it kind of overwhelmed me.” 

The young man listened carefully but didn’t lose his smile. 

“I see,” he answered then. “Well, maybe he didn’t think anything bad about it.”

Leo jeered slightly. “Yeah, he clearly didn’t think.” 

“Oh, the old problems,” he guy leaned back and rested his head in his hands behind him. 

“Problems?” 

“You know… when they just won’t understand you,” he answered, looking ahead again. “This kind of stuff gets problematic in every relationship.” 

“Oh…oh, we're not…I mean,” Leo’s eyes widened and he immediately blushed again.

“Haha, don’t you worry,” the man grinned at him. “I didn’t mean THAT! Just …you know, any kind.”

“You mean even when working together?” Leo asked. 

“Especially then,” he nodded. “Understanding when something isn’t right for the other is the first thing that’s mandatory. Otherwise, you’ll just get dragged along.”

“You speak like you know about this too,” Leo felt his mouth form a slight smile as well. As funny as this was, he kinda liked that guy. Which was more than surprising, since he never cared for other people in general. 

“Well, you know I was kind of dragged here too,” the guy winked at him. 

“YOU?” 

“Yesss, is that so unbelievable?” he grinned. 

“I’m sorry,” Leo responded quickly. “You just…. You don’t really look like belonging here either.” 

“I’m pretty new to this,” the other man answered lightly. “But well, I get forgotten a lot.” 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” he answered. “Which is not bad… I mean I am just an assistant…nothing special.”  
He smiled honestly at Leo again, but somehow Leo felt a slight sadness behind that. Or maybe he was imagining it. He couldn’t really tell. “But you know, leading this life and being able to do this is kind of worth it.” 

Leo stared at I’m for a second and then jeered slightly. 

“Funny, I’ve never thought of it that way,” he answered. 

They looked at each other for a moment, when the guy started to smile again, inhaling deeply. 

“Well then,” he jumped to his feet and immediately stretched out one hand in Leo’s direction. “You feeling better?” 

Leo hesitated for a moment before taking his hand and let him pull him to his feet gently. 

“I guess I gotta look for my company again,” he said then. “Do you need help finding yours?” 

Leo smiled at him warmly. “No, I think you’ve done enough,” he said. “But thank you!” 

“Well then, take care ‘lil buddy,” he said and bowed deeply before him. The he turned and made his way back into the room. 

“Hey, wait,” Leo jumped to his feet after hesitating maybe a bit too long. “What's your name?” 

But it was too late. The guy had already vanished behind the huge curtains, waving softly outside the light inside of that house. 

Leo stared after him a little longer. How strange had this been? How on earth was it possible someone like that showing up just ar the right moment, just to vanish as quickly again. 

And this he seemed to notice for the first time how much his life had changed in just a few weeks. He'd never dreamed of actually being part of events like this, let alone meeting people like this. How very peculiar. 

“There you are!” 

Leo turned around, noticing that voice. 

It was Max. He came towards him quickly from the crowd lingering at the door inside, waving heavily.  
“I’ve been searching for you everywhere,” he proclaimed, yet stopped in front of Leo to catch his breath.  
Leo just stood there and waited for whatever he was about to yell him. He knew better now than to ask this rushing man about his whereabouts or, heaven knew, tell him about his little experience just now. 

“I’ve just had an idea,” Max spoke again, straightening up. He seemed beyond pleased with himself right now. “I’ve run into an old..er…acquaintance and I think, once we’ve actually found our sure fire flop, this guy is the right one to direct it!” 

“An acquaintance?” Leo asked silently, still feeling insecure to ask something at all. 

Max nodded. 

“His name is Roger. Roger Debris,” he continued. “We've worked together before and believe me, this guy sucks. He’s a little more on the extravagant side and you really gotta take a lot working with this kind of attitude. But I’m telling you, this would be our guy. You wouldn’t find anyone worse than….why the hell are you even out here?” 

“Me..oh…er…I,” Leo stiffened immediately and felt that treacherous blush on his face appearing again. 

“Are you ok, kid?” Max's tone changed suddenly. Just as if he’d noticed something was wrong just that second. 

“I’m ok,” Leo shot without thinking. “Well, ok…again. There was this guy…”

“What guy?” Max raised his eyebrow. 

“Not like that,” Leo whirled around. “I was feeling sick. I wasn’t really doing too well and he…well, he kinda noticed and got me out here to take some fresh air… But it wasn't like th…”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence as Max suddenly and without any warning flying his arms around him, pressing him tightly to his body. Leo was so perplex he didn’t even know how to respond. In that very second he even forgot to freak out over that unfamiliar contact. He just hung there, breathing, waiting and staring ahead. 

“Max?” he whispered after a while. 

“I’m sorry Leo,” he heard him say. “I didn’t notice you were feeling sick. I should have. This was…. Well…” 

“Just forget it,” Leo answered and softly pushed him away from himself. 

Their eyes met and he coughed slightly, looking away. 

“Soooo,” he started to break that awkward silence. “This Roger Debris…. Is he really that bad?” 

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe,” Max answered. “He showed up here with his whole household.” 

“What?” 

“He's living with some….let’s call them strange people,” Max continued. “And apparently he's met someone.” 

“Is that unusual?” Leo asked. 

“For him? Yes,” was the answer he got. “As far as I understood him, he worked for him now… I didn’t ask much more though. Roger usually surrounded ds himself with crazy folks just like himself. And that guy wasn’t close anyway. He couldn’t seem to find him anywhere. But well… he’s just an assistant. Nothing important.”

Leo's eyes widened.

“An assistant?” he asked shyly. “What’s his name?” 

“I don’t know,” Max declared. “Some crazy stupid fairy thing… He's said it quite a few times. You don’t expect me to listen to this unimportant stuff… it doesn’t matter, believe me. He will be as crazy and strange as all of them. You probably wouldn’t get along with their kind anyway.” 

Leo nodded.

“He is supposed to be your age,” Max said then.

“And that's important because?” 

“It isn’t,” Max continued. “Well, you don’t know Roger. Him being committed to someone…well… and then that young compared to him…well, I’m just babbling.”

“Why does that concern you?” Leo grinned suddenly. He'd just gotten another impression here all of a sudden. “Remind me again of how you’ve met that guy?” 

And for once, Max blushed slightly. A state Leo enjoyed more than he had intended he must admit. 

“Well, don’t get too cocky here,” Max changed topics quicker than anyone Leo had ever known before though. “But you see, after having found our guy here, we can also go somewhere and have a nice evening, what do you say?” 

Leo nodded quickly. If he was absolutely honest, he was glad to get out of this madhouse. He would meet this Roger Debris soon enough anyway. And after all, there hardly could be anything more crazy coming up that this evening anyway, could there? 

Years later, Leo would laugh about this thought….


End file.
